May 2023
Rhode Island Chapter
New England Mountain Bike Association
May 2023 Meeting Agenda
RINEMBA Meeting: 7:00 p.m. May 2, NBX 922 Boston Neck Rd, Narragansett, RI 02882 and via Zoom.
Roll Call
Mark Savage
Dennis Wilson
Charles Picard
Shannon Lonarddo
Peter Gengler
Chris Hughes
Jason Shuford
Alan Windsor
Wayne Asselin
Welcome to any newcomers.
Comments/requests/concerns/questions/complaints from newcomers?
Administration
a) Membership numbers - 263 active members - 5 from Jan 1 but up 54 from a year ago
b) Financial summary – April 2023
Opening balance: $2,968.29
Income: $0.00
Expenses: ($238.54)
Closing balance: $2,729.75
a few unresolved expenses
c) Next meeting – June 6, Location? Time? BikeOn in Warwick, only condition is we include a presentation on adaptive bikes. 7pm
- Add agenda item for next month to discuss adaptive trail mapping in Trailforks
Glocester Land Trust Meeting (Feb-28)
a) Feedback from Land Trust member is still unclear of differences between single and double track. Most concerned with erosion. Opportunities to revisit GLT if we want to push this agenda
Dennis reached out to GLT - no direct response. New board members were elected, so may be on the back burner, Council person Willy says there is a future for more conversations. Project can be revisited in the fall
Teach MTB Skills to Women this Season (Saturday April 8)
a) Teach women leaders how to teach mountain bike skills
b) Debrief from those that attended (Linda, Cyndi, and Tabitha)
Train the trainer model with the actual skills training as the basis. There is a listserve for attendees and future dates are being discussed. October is likely. Ryan and Merino Parks are good candidates. Ryan Park preferred.
Diamond Hill trail maintenance day (Saturday April 15)
a) Canceled due to conflict with a race on the east side of route 114
b) Do we want to reschedule?
Need to check for conflicts with Park and Rec in the future to avoid conflicts.
Patrick will email some open dates to Mark and Dennis. 2nd week in June might be a possibility.
Earth Day Activities (Saturday April-22)
a) Debrief from participants
1. Big River - roadside focus, 1.5tons of tires, 3 tons of trash
2. Riverpoint Park - overwhelming amount of trash. More people needed, and the park has changed over time to be less bike friendly
3. Merino Park - good turnout from a few groups, PepsiCo, Woony Rivershed Coucli
b) Westerly Land Trust
1. Any RI NEMBA participation? None this go ‘round
Foundation skills clinic (April 29 & 30)
a) Debrief from participants
Rained out
Volunteer Raffle (May 2)
a) Drawing at NBX
Trail School (May 6-7)
Paula has requested 4 rides - 3 at Woody of varied skilled levels, and 1 at Burlingame with a heavy tech focus. Keith to ride over and grab folks from the campground at B-game. Ride leaders need flexibility to call an audible on where rides take place.
Plan to capture video for Peter to assemble into a short promo reel.
Dennis has the NEMBA tent, Paula requested it to be at Woody Hill.
a) Course layout
1. Virtual work ahead of the event
2. Friday - Leader arrive and scout trails
3. Saturday – Classes all day
4. Sunday – Classes all morning
5. Expecting 10 Leaders, 40 participants
b) 51 registered, 0 places left
c) 20 camp sites in Burlingame reserved, DEM absorbing fees, no cost to participants
d) 6 positions reserved for DEM, cost covered by NEMBA – sent to Paula, several already signed up – Is everyone registered
e) 2 positions reserved for WLT, costs covered by RINEMBA $300 – are they registered
f) RINEMBA sponsorship for members, $150 each?? – Adam and Cyndi registered – anyone else?
g) RINEMBA leader representation
h) Add adaptive multi-use trails to program
i) Useful to have political/economic implication session
Philip Keyes Memorial Ride (May 20)
a) Great Brook Farm, Carlisle MA
b) 8:00-9:00 am registration
c) Signup required Closes May 17th
d) BBQ afterwards
Foster Land Trust bridge build (May 20 ?)
a) Matt Mlyniec will project manage Matt to pick the date
b) Foster land trust has $500 to match our donation Projected cost $1k for 80ft bridge
c) We need approval for money to purchase materials
d) We need to provide manpower
Woody Hill Fun Ride (July 9)
a) Paul/Chris have routes planned
b) DEM permit needs submitting with routes selected DO NOT submit for permit
Regularly Scheduled Group Rides
Worth exploring a workshop on ride leader best practices and structure. Tabitha to propose a session.
a) Daylight savings ends November 5
b) Diamond Hill - non permitted daylight rides until interest generated
c) Lincoln Woods - non permitted daylight rides until interest generated
d) Woody Hill - Mellow Monday and low gear ladies, Wednesday nights at 5:30
e) Ryan Park - Need an ACTUAL mellow ride
f) Land manager permits needed for group sizes 10 or more
Trailforks
a) Jenna Ducharme is our new Trailforks champion
b) Close Carolina stream crossing on Trail forks YES!!! IT’S CLOSED!!!
c) Identify adaptive trails in RI on Trail Forks – Can simple trail mods expand the number of trails?
DEM
a) Night riding agreement ended April 30 - Mark needs any outstanding waivers, passing off to Alan so he can follow through on permanent provisions
b) Waivers. Collect DEM-specific waivers; give to Mark.
c) DEM planning to do one more night riding pilot 2023/2024 and then approach changing their regulations to make it permanent
d) Management planning project underway in Big River
1. Consultants presented project update to Water Resource Board in April
No advanced notification given from DEM, but agenda was posted on 4/6.
Sign up for water resource board meeting alerts here:
https://opengov.sos.ri.gov/RSSEmail/RSSEmailService
Contact Person:
Kathleen Crawley
Phone:
(401) 222-7901
Email:
kathleen.crawley@doa.ri.gov
2. Direct outreach to NEMBA at some point from WRB as well from the consultants
3. There will be a couple of public outreach events – DEM will notify NEMBA
e) Guidance for summer riding groups
1. DEM is working to change the group size for permits to 25
2. We can post provided we say groups of 10 or larger will be split into smaller groups
Ride area reps
a) Updates from the riding areas
Big River - Burnt Sawmill gate is now closed, could impact parking for group rides. A few blowdowns.
Woody Hill
a) WLT MOU (Chris P/Paul K) – indefinite hold
b) Any update and/or help required?
Any news from corporate? (Wayne) Insurance discussion - NEMBA subcontractors need insurance
May is membership drive month. Closing in on 10k members.
New Business from the board?
Dennis to create QR code and flyer to share upcoming events[1]
Huge thanks to NBX for hosting, and along with other shops donated around $500 worth of prizes for the Earth Day cleanup volunteers.
Tabitha created a Google form survey to solicit feedback from members.
Raffle? Multiple small prizes.
Ride shirts for fun rides. DiHi and Big River custom graphics for each. Return to Anchored in Dirt shirts.
Hunting season ends May 21!
Meeting adjourned at 9:05pm
Appendix A - Finances
Opening balance:
$2,968.29
Income:
$0.00
Expenses:
NEMBA Leadership summit reimbursements
Zoom
Clip boards
Earth Day trash bags
($130.00)
($17.11)
($75.96)
(15.47)
Closing balance:
$2,839.11
Projected expenses: $300 – Trail school sponsorship for WLT
$300 – Trail school sponsorship for RINEMBA members
Total Projected expenses: $600
($900 – Trail school sponsorship for DEM covered by NEMBA)
Appendix B – Event Dates
2023 event dates:
• Woody Hill: July 9, rain date July 16
• Diamond Hill: Aug 13, rain date Aug 20
• Big River: Sep 17, rain date Oct 8
• Lincoln Woods: Nov 12, rain date Nov 19
Appendix C – Remaining winter 2023 hunting season
Season
Animal
From
To
DEM Zone
Management area
Youth
Turkey
17-Apr-23
23-Apr-23
All
All
Paraplegic Hunter
Turkey
22-Apr-23
23-Apr-23
All
All
Spring
Turkey
27-Apr-23
21-May-23
All
All
@dwilson@nemba.org
_Assigned to Dennis Wilson_
